


Settling Down

by shlaura



Category: Supernatural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-28
Updated: 2013-03-28
Packaged: 2017-12-06 18:10:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/738619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shlaura/pseuds/shlaura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was harder than either of them expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Settling Down

Settling down for Cas and Dean was easy. Except that it was the farthest thing from easy that anyone has ever known. 

It was shortly after Cas fell from heaven and lost his grace. For a long while after Cas wasn’t easily mobile. So they’d spend extended periods of time in a single motel. And Dean would take care of Cas, making sure all his new human needs were met.

Of the three of them it is Sam who remembers it best. The moment when they stopped being hunters on the road and began being a family in need of a home. It started with little things. One day instead of coming home with take out Dean came back with a paper bag of groceries and a set of cheap plates and cups and forks and knives, grunting something about cheaper this way. Then one day Sam brought back pillows, honest to god pillows because if he had to hear Cas complain about his neck thanks to the motel’s pillows one more time he was going to shoot him. It was little things like that. 

And then one day they realized.

“Man we can’t afford these motels much longer. And Cas isn’t ready to be on the road again yet.” 

“Dean, I will be fine. Staying put is putting a strain on the two of you and I don’t want to be a bother. We can leave, don’t worry about me.”

Dean shot him a look that said he’d be sleeping in that bed alone if he tried to get out of it before he was well enough. Cas immediately shut his mouth.

Everyone was silent for a few minutes and finally Sam said it.

“Maybe it’s time you and Cas get a place, settle down, you know?”

To his surprise Dean hadn’t protested or given him a dirty look. He considered it, and then he’d agreed with a smile on his face. 

“How about it Cas? You and me find us a place and fix it up real nice, turn it into our home?”

Cas had beamed at him and they’d done just that.

————————————————————————————-

That had been the easy part. Deciding. the hard part had been adjusting.

“Dean can you sit still for two minutes please you are giving me a headache.”

“Shit Cas, I’m sorry. I feel like I have cabin fever. I need to get out of here.”

“Fine. Go for a drive while I make dinner. I’ll text you when it’s almost ready.”

Dean is silent fora minute until Cas finally looks up from his book.

“Cas…I think settling down was a mistake. I can’t do this. This life isn’t for me.”

Cas looks stunned, which then turns to hurt. The intensity of human emotions are still new enough that he hasn’t learned the art of keeping himself from being an open book. Especially with Dean.

“Oh.”

—————————————————————

“I didn’t mean it Cas.”

“It’s okay Dean. I understand. Go, go be with your brother. Continue hunting. But…I think I have to stay here Dean. I’m human now. I want to know what that’s like, I want the whole experience, with a roof over my head and food in the fridge and a bed that doesn’t smell like hundreds of other people. I’ll be here and you’ll be on the road and just…promise to come back every once in a while because I will miss you.”

“Cas…” 

Cas rolls over in their bed so Dean can’t look at his face. 

“Cas, baby, don’t. There is nothing in the world that is gonna make me leave you, not now, not after all the times I’ve lost you. Fucking hell. Cas I don’t want to be apart from you.”

“But you’re unhappy Dean. I’m not making you happy.”

“That was before I realized I’m a fucking idiot Cas, okay? You are making me happy. I’m just too stupid to see it.”

Cas rolls over into him, burying his face in his naked chest and wrapping his arms around his waist with so much force Dean laughs. 

“I’m sorry baby,” Dean says, pressing a kiss into Cas’s hair.


End file.
